Topic Area: The
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the Bengal
TigerGeographic Area: IndiaFocal Question: Have the
conservation attempts by CITES been successful in preventing the extinction of
the Bengal Tiger in India?Sources:(1) Hemley, Ginette, ed. “International
Wildlife Trade: A CITIES Sourcebook” Island Press, Washington
D.C.1994

Despite its status as the largest member of the cat family,
the tiger is the most threatened of the world’s carnivores. At the turn
of the century, roughly 100,000 of these beautiful felines roamed the area from
Turkey to Eastern-Russia and as far down as the Indonesian Islands. Today,
however, only between 5,000-7,400 tigers are left, inhabiting only 14 Asian
range states (Woods, 1997).India
is the home of about 60% of the world’s remaining tigers, and as a
result, it is an extremely crucial geographic area in the fight for tiger
survival (Linden, 1994).

Tiger survival is threatened primarily by habitat loss and
fragmentation, conflict with humans and poaching. Habitat loss is the most
significant and long-term threat, while the latter two issues represent more
immediate concerns (Hemley, 1994).Habitat loss and human conflict become extremely central issues in India
where conservation efforts have been successful and as a result the growing
tiger population encroaches on human civilization.It becomes a two-sided problem in such areas where
population continues to increase at a rapid pace (Linden, 1994). Poaching and
trade are driven by the demand for traditional Chinese medicines and tiger
skins.Many Asian cultures have an
ingrained belief that the tiger is a potent source of healing power. Tiger bone
and other parts of the animal are thought to cure rheumatism, enhance
longevity, provide strength, calm convulsions, and treat impotence. With a rise
in wealth in Asian countries in recent years, the demand for these expensive
items has surged (Linden, 1994).

Due to the existence of multiple threats, tiger conservation
must have two goals: the effective ban of illegal trade and therefore the end
of poaching, and habitat preservation. The primary tiger conservation effort is
the CITES Appendix 1 listing of all five remaining subspecies of tigers.This measure bans all commercial trade
in the animal and its parts.Unfortunately, however, this conservation effort by CITES has proved to
be ineffective at reviving the tiger population, in part because it does not
make any effort towards conserving habitat and prey and in part because it does
not alter consumer demand and therefore the illegal trade persists (‘t
Sas-Rolfes, 2000).

Given their disproportionate tiger population, it is not
surprising that India has taken the most effective steps towards tiger
conservation.In the 1970s,
conservationists raised awareness about the declining Bengal tiger populations.
The Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi launched Project Tiger in 1972, backed
by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) campaign “Operation Tiger”(Linden,
1994).The goal of the project was
to create multiple tiger reserves whose purpose was to protect not only the
tiger but also the animal’s habitat and prey.By the 1980s, the tiger populations had grown substantially,
and the project was viewed as a success. Unfortunately, despite these concerted
efforts, in the late 1980s, poaching began to rise as the demand for tiger bone
increased due to a rise in personal income in Asian countries and a decrease in
supply. This reduction in supply was largely attributable to a dwindling bone
surplus in China that existed because the Chinese had killed thousands of
tigers in the 1980’s on the grounds that the animals endangered human
populations.This killing spree
led to a stockpile of tiger bone large enough to satisfy the medicine market
for years (Linden, 1994).

The demand for tiger parts has proved to be particularly
hard to control.While the desire
for skins was depressed through environmentalist pressure on the fashion
industry, the growing market for bone used for medicinal purposes has defied
all similar attempts to stifle demand. Part of the reason for this difficulty
is because the demand for tiger bone is centered in China, Korea, and Taiwan,
countries that are largely out of range of Western publicity influences
(Linden, 1994).A larger
component, however, is the fact that traditional Chinese medicine is an
integral part of local culture, and is therefore extremely hard to combat,
especially from the outside.In
short, the control of the demand for tiger bone is out of the reach of
political pressure, public opinion, or even local enforcement (Linden,
1994).In fact, many of the
officials and politicians in these areas reassure the West that they are
actively trying to join in the conservation effort, while showing little action
at home (Hemley, 1994).

It is clear that a decrease in demand is the key to
alleviating the stress currently on the tiger. With the end of poaching will
come the rebuilding of the populations and the increased success of the tiger
reserves. Unfortunately, while demand is still high, and rising human
populations are still pressuring the current tiger’s habitat, CITES can
do little to prevent the extinction of the tiger. This is particularly true
because some of the tiger trade is domestic (within tiger range states) and
therefore CITES, being an international trade convention, has no tools with
which to combat its existence (‘t Sas-Rolfes, 2000).It was estimated in 1997, that unless
major changes took place immediately, the tiger was sure to be extinct within a
decade (Woods, 1997).Unfortunately, it seems that we may have passed that threshold.
Furthermore, when the market for tiger parts run out of supplies, this problem
is likely to start affecting felines in other areas of the world, such as the
snow leopard and the golden cat (Linden, 1994).

What is apparent from this analysis is that CITES, while a
crucial tool in protecting the endangered flora and fauna of the world, has its
limitations and unfortunately may not be always be able to prevent
extinction.In the case of the
tiger, CITES can only take us so far on the road to conservation.In the end, it is the attitudes towards
wildlife trade that must be altered (Mickleburgh, 2000).